Remember,
the relationship between the tilt of the Earth’s axis and its yearly orbit
around the sun produces the seasons.
Description: Your goal will be to use collected data and compare patterns of seasonal daylight changes.
Student Information: To solve problems scientists usually go through the same process. First, they develop a good answer to the problem they are working on (hypothesis), and then data needs to be collected in a controlled procedure or acquired from a reliable source. Data is often organized in a table or chart to aid in analysis of the information.
Procedure:
Look closely at the data table below. It shows the rising and setting
times of the sun in Salt Lake City. Details for this data can be found
at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
(You may use this site to create the data for almost any location in
| Sunrise (p.m.) |
Sunset (p.m.) |
|
|
January |
||
| 1 |
7:52 |
5:11 |
| 15 |
7:50 |
5:25 |
|
February |
||
| 1 |
7:38 |
5:45 |
| 15 |
7:21 |
6:02 |
|
March |
||
| 1 |
7:01 |
6:19 |
| 15 |
6:39 |
6:34 |
|
April |
||
| 1 |
6:11 |
6:52 |
| 15 |
6:49 |
8:07 |
|
May |
||
| 1 |
6:26 |
8:24 |
| 15 |
6:10 |
8:38 |
|
June |
||
| 1 |
5:58 |
8:53 |
| 15 |
5:56 |
9:01 |
|
July |
||
| 1 |
6:00 |
9:03 |
| 15 |
6:09 |
8:57 |
|
August |
||
| 1 |
6:24 |
8:43 |
| 15 |
6:38 |
8:25 |
|
September |
||
| 1 |
6:54 |
8:00 |
| 15 |
7:08 |
7:36 |
| October |
||
| 1 |
7:24 |
7:10 |
| 15 |
7:39 |
6:47 |
|
November |
||
| 1 |
6:58 |
5:24 |
| 15 |
7:14 |
5:09 |
|
December |
||
| 1 |
7:32 |
5:01 |
| 15 |
7:45 |
5:01 |
Analysis
- Explain the pattern of sunrise times during the year.
- Is the pattern the same for sunset times during the year?
- During which month is the number of daylight hours the longest?
- Use the data to make a line graph showing the changes in time of sunrise and sunset for the year. (Drag your mouse over the link to see an example of a line graph.)
- Which season has the greatest number of daylight hours?
- Which season has the lowest number of daylight hours?
Previous
| ||||||
| Get the plug-ins: Want to share a photograph of you or your friends doing this activity? Send the photograph attached to an e-mail with the following information: the title of the activity, the URL (Internet address), and your name. Remember that no picture can be used showing student faces or with a student name on it. Send comments to Glen Westbroek. Updated July 21, 2005 by: Glen
Westbroek |
